THBTHD #012
☀️ Happy June. How about Tony Bradley during the Pacers’ series against the Knicks?
The rarely used big man, who recently spent time in the G League, was suddenly getting important minutes when Indiana needed size — and he delivered.
Let’s catch you up on everything else…
1. Basketball roundup: My name is Luka
Jim Tanner’s international ties appeared to have paid off, as the Heels secured a commitment from 6’5” Luka Bogavac from Montenegro.
He’s already played four years of professional basketball in the Adriatic League, and by all accounts, he’s a top player. He averaged 14 ppg and shot 40% from three.
Oh, and he’ll be 22 years old when the season starts. As a freshman. Get ready for a tsunami of “he’s so old…” jokes. He’ll probably earn $4 million via an NIL deal for aspercreme. But we don’t care. You do what you have to in the NIL age.
The bottom line: Luka’s addition rounds out what is going to be a very different looking team next year. There are now nine new players, including the three freshmen.
We like the idea of all this international flair because it takes us back to the days of Serge Zwikker and Henrik Rodl. Maybe Henri Vessaar will wear a sweet headband to complete the look.
💰 We likely grabbed Luka because Drake Powell is definitely saying goodbye. He’ll stay in the draft and not return to college.
His pro prospects look bright. He measured 6’5” with a massive 7’ wingspan at the combine, and his 37.5-inch standing vertical leap was the best of any player.
📅 Conference matchups set: The ACC had previously said the league would move to an 18-game conference schedule — down from 20 — and we now know how this will affect Carolina.
Each team will have a “permanent partner” that they will play twice every year and another two-game slate with a team that will rotate every year.
As expected, UNC and Duke will square off twice this upcoming season (ratings!) and the other home-and-home will be against Syracuse.
UNC will play everyone else in the conference once except for Boston College. No problem. We’re happy to skip the Quad 7 road game in Chestnut Hill against the lowly Eagles.
The big stink though: Wolfpack fans are up in arms, saying they should always play us twice, but to quote Joel Berry, we “don’t treat that as a rivalry.”
👎 VAL to the Pack. Somehow Ven-Allen Lubin has ended up at State. He claimed when he entered the portal that it was just a formality, but…guess not?
👋 Cade Tyson to Minnesota. The wing reportedly got interest from Purdue, Iowa, Ohio State and Kentucky (??), before committing to the Golden Gophers.
2. Spring sports update
⚾️ The Diamond Heels
It’s time to get on the UNC bandwagon if you haven’t been following the team.
To catch you up: They won the ACC tournament in Durham over Memorial Day weekend, beating Clemson 14-4 in the championship.
Then the NCAA tournament started this past weekend, and the Heels are the #5 seed in the country.
On Saturday, the Heels destroyed Oklahoma 11-5 behind some Jason DeCaro firepower on the mound.
On Sunday, Oklahoma returned the favor and beat the Heels 9-5, setting up a winner-take-all game on Monday. It’s not an ideal scenario, but we think this team can get it done.
If Scott Forbes’ team can win on Monday, they will host a Super Regional next weekend and would have to win two of three games to get to Omaha and the College Baseball World Series for the second year in a row.
This team doesn’t have the star power of last year or some of the past teams that have gone to Omaha, but could be one of the best rosters top to bottom in several years.
They have a strong and deep pitching staff and have shown the ability to win games in many different ways throughout the year. They are also flying under the radar nationally and bring a bit of “no one believes in us” mentality to the field.
We’re loving their run.
🥍 Women’s Lax
Ho hum, another national championship for UNC. The Women’s lacrosse finished off an undefeated season, capped by a 12-8 victory over Northwestern for the title May 25.
This team dominated all year long and showed their grit in the national semifinals when they were down 4-2 early but scored 18 consecutive goals to win 20-4.
They’re led by the Humphreys sisters, three women from Connecticut who, if you aren’t familiar with them, are a great story.
The youngest, Chloe, scored 90 goals — both an NCAA freshman and a UNC single season record. And she’s only a red-shirt freshman. With three more years of eligibility, we might be looking at a Mia Hamm or Erin Matson situation brewing.
Coach Jenny Levy now has four national championships and is the most tenured coach on campus with recent retirements.
3. This week’s reason why Duke sucks
When we used to do the podcast, we’d end every episode with that week’s reason why Duke sucked. The tradition continues here.
We once said Zion Williamson had the chance to become one of the biggest draft busts in Duke history. And last week, he inched one step closer.
The New Orleans forward is facing a lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging that he raped and abused a woman he knew from his Blue Devil days.
Williamson’s attorney has called the allegations “false,” and we obviously have no idea what went on, but we do know this…it’s another piece of bad news in a very, very long line of it for the former No. 1 pick.
There were the questions of shady deals at Duke, the weight gain, the parade of injuries.
That dude was the second coming during his short stint in Durham, but has yet to be the superstar at the pro level that everyone told us was guaranteed.
➕ Speaking of short stints in Durham, it’s being reported that Cooper Flagg made $28M during his college pit stop. A few more dollars and he could almost afford the tuition.
👊 Thanks for reading, and before you go…
Reach out: If you’ve got thoughts or comments, send them our way at thbthd@gmail.com.
Go Heels!